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Panemeria
048 Panemeria tenebrata (Small Yellow Underwing) 
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Synthymia
049 Synthymia fixa (Goldwing) Rare migrant with one British record, Start Point, Devon, 1937 |
Subfamily: Cuculliinae (1G 9S+1 (1EX 1DB))
These species share a steeply tectiform resting posture and an angular forward-projecting thoracic crest. Species in subgenus Cucullia have a pale grey or brownish forewing, more or less distinct oval and kidney marks and a simple termen; species in subgenus Shargacucullia have a pale brown forewing with diffuse darker brown dorsal and costal streaks, absent/obscure oval and kidney marks and a scalloped termen. Several species show (1-4) dorsal scale tufts on the forewing.
According to Waring and Townsend the colloquial term for this subfamily “sharks” stems from a resemblance of the thoracic crest to a shark’s dorsal fin. To me this crest looks more like the jaw profile of a shark; whether the dorsal scale tufts could then be taken as a shark’s dorsal fin is debatable, not least because C.umbratica (Shark) lacks them.
Of the 8 species on the RES list, one - C.C.gnaphalii (Cudweed) has been extinct in Britain since 1979 and one – C.C.artemisiae (Scarce Wormwood) has no reliable British records of naturally occurring adults. C.S.scrophulariae (Water Betony) is a rare migrant with only 2 British records; it cannot be distinguished from C.S.verbasci (Mullein) or C.S.lychnitis (Striped Lychnis) without genital examination.
Realistically this leaves 6 species to distinguish from each other. C.absinthii (Wormwood) is small (ws 16-19mm) with 2 wavy subbasal cross-lines. C.umbratica (Shark) and C.chamomilae (Chamomile Shark) are grey and similar – see C.umbratica for ID. C.asteris (Star-wort), C.lychnitis (Striped Lychnis) and C.verbasci (Mullein) have diffuse brown dorsal and costal streaks and are similar – see C.asteris and C.verbasci for ID.
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Cucullia (9S+1 (1EX 1DB))
Subgenus: Cucullia 050 Cucullia absinthii (Wormwood) fw: 16-19mm; Jul (-Aug); wormwood (Artemesia absinthium); NS-B in cliffs, quarries, derelict land at scattered locations in England and N.Wales |
051 Cucullia artemisae (Scarce Wormwood) Doubtfully British. There are no reliable records of naturally occurring adults in Britain. Probably retained on the RES list on the basis of a confirmed larva found on mugwort, Nazeing, Essex, Sep 1971. |
052 Cucullia umbratica (Shark) 
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053 Cucullia chamomillae (Chamomile Shark)
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054 Cucullia gnaphallii (Cudweed)
Extinct in Britain since 1979 |
055 Cucullia asteris (Star-wort)
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0527 Cucullia calendulae (Marigold Shark)
2 British records, Dec, 2016 & 2018 Ref: Atropos 62: 51 |
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Subgenus: Shargacucullia
056 Cucullia scrophulariae (Water Betony) Rare migrant with 2 confirmed British records, 1949 and 1994. Requires genital examination to distinguish from C.lychnitis and C.verbasci. |
057 Cucullia lychnitis (Striped Lychnis) fw: 18-21mm; Jun-Jul; dark mullein (Verbascum nigrum); NS-A on unshaded sites on calcareous soils in Hampshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and W.Sussex. |
058 Cucullia verbasci (Mullein) 
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Subfamily: Oncocnemidinae (2G 3S)
Callophasia formerly placed in subfamily Cuculliinae. Stilbia formerly placed in Amphipyrinae. The rationale for bringing these two very different genera together is not clear to me.
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Calophasia (2S)
059 Calophasia lunula (Toadflax Brocade) 
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060 Calophasia platyptera (Antirrhinum Brocade) Rare migrant with one British record, Brighton, 1896 |
Stilbia
061 Stilbia anomola (Anomolous) 
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